Southeast baseball team secures spot in OVC tournament with win on Friday

Southeast Missouri State sophomore Clayton Evans had been sitting in the dugout for the first 11 1/2 innings of the Redhawks' game against Murray State on Friday night at Capaha Field when he got the opportunity to pinch hit with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th.

He quickly got behind 0-2 but coaxed a walk out of the pitcher to push the winning run across the plate to send Southeast off with a 6-5 win that guaranteed the Redhawks a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for a record 20th consecutive year.

"That's one of the best at-bats all year to go from an 0-2 to a bases loaded walk and drive in a run," Southeast coach Steve Bieser said. "But I knew that he was ready because he really was locked in during the game over on the bench. He was paying a lot of attention to how they were pitching, and they were pitching us backwards and using a lot of off-speed stuff. And I think that he understood that and that's what made him have such a successful at bat."

Left fielder Derek Gibson singled to lead off the inning and was sacrificed to second before right fielder Dalton Hewitt was intentionally walked.

Catcher Cole Ferguson singled to left field and Gibson was held at third, which set up Evans' walk-off walk.

"When Fergie hit that single I thought it was over," Evans said. "It was a great at-bat by him just to get a ball through the infield, but I was just really happy that coach called my number. It was a team effort. It wasn't just that last at bat, it goes from the first inning on. I was just happy that coach called my number, and I got my chance."

Much like Evans' at bat, the Redhawks had to battle a deficit throughout the entire game.

Southeast trailed 2-0 and 4-1 before a two-run sixth and a run in the seventh pulled them even at 4-4.

Each team plated a run in the eighth before 3 1/2 scoreless innings.

Both teams committed two errors in the game that led to a run scoring in each instance.

"We weren't playing really well," Bieser said. "We made a lot of mistakes, and we started the game off sloppy with walking their leadoff guy and they came up with a big hit and scored runs, and that's what they do. They're tough to strike out, they're a very scrappy team and we know that's going to happen, but what we've got to be better at is not giving them those free bases. We gave up a lot of leadoff guys on base, and that really put a lot of pressure on us to make plays."

Southeast made one critical play in the top of the 12th after the first two batters were walked.

Murray State second baseman Anthony Bayus laid down a bunt that third baseman Andy Lennington was able to field and throw to shortstop Branden Boggetto covering third to get the lead runner out.

Perry Middleton then entered the game in relief. He got right fielder Kollin Dowdy to ground to short. The Redhawks got the out at second but were unable to turn a double play because second baseman Jason Blum was upended by the runner.

With runners at the corners and two outs, Middleton then struck out catcher Tyler Lawrence to end the threat.

"Those sidearm guys, we expect them to throw ground balls when they come in, and we just haven't given Perry enough opportunity to get us ground balls," Bieser said. "It was a tough situation to put him in. I knew that we hadn't used him enough this year and to put him in that situation with runners at first and second and really expect him to dominate there was a little risky.

"But I think the fact that he's had a lot of experience at Three Rivers in the backside of the bullpen went to his advantage. But the matchup was good for him. It was a guy that we thought we could induce if we could keep the ball down and he had good sink on his fastball. If we could keep it down we'd get a ground ball, and that's exactly what he did. I thought Perry was just magnificent out there tonight."

Middleton (1-0) picked up his first win of the season while Murray State's Cody Maerz (0-4) took the loss. Maerz pitched 5 1/3 innings in relief and allowed three runs -- two earned -- on five hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

Southeast starter Alex Winkelman went eight innings on the mound. He allowed five runs -- three earned -- on six hits. He walked four and struck out five.

The Redhawks improved to 30-15 overall and 20-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference while the Thoroughbreds dropped to 18-25 and 10-12 in the OVC.

Southeast extended their lead in the conference standings to 3 1/2 games over Tennessee Tech, which is playing a non-conference series this weekend. The Redhawks would clinch at least a share of the regular-season title with a sweep of Murray State this weekend.

"Some days you don't have your best stuff, and we didn't have our best stuff tonight," Gibson said. "I think that the difference of most teams and this team, on the nights that we don't have our best stuff we're still going to find a way to win. We will do whatever it takes. We will scratch and claw for a run. We will literally do whatever it takes to win a baseball game, and I think you saw that tonight. We didn't have our best stuff, we didn't play too well on defense, didn't hit the ball very well."

Game 2 of the series is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Capaha Field. There also is a free tailgate sponsored by Wood and Huston Bank with food and drinks provided by Buffalo Wild Wings and River Eagle Distributing.